Book 12: 《顏淵》 Yan Yuan
《顏淵》 Passage 12.23
Legge Translation (1861)
Zigong asked about friendship. The Master said: "Faithfully admonish your friend, and skillfully lead him on. If you find him impracticable, stop. Do not disgrace yourself."Word by word
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong, disciple of Confucius (Duanmu Ci)
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 component of the personal name Zigong, a disciple of Confucius
- 問 wèn
to ask about, inquire
- 友 yǒu
friend, friendship
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said
- 忠 zhōng
loyal, wholehearted, doing one's utmost
- 告 gào
to tell, admonish, advise
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then, and so
- 善 shàn
skillfully, well, in a proper manner
- 道 dǎo
to guide, lead
道 is here the verb 導, to guide, and is read dǎo; 經典釋文 gives 音導.
- 之 zhī
him, them (object pronoun)
- 不可 bù kě
not accepted, rejected
- 不 not
- 可 acceptable, permissible, agreeable
- 則 zé
then, in that case
- 止 zhǐ
to stop, desist
- 無 wú
prohibitive negative: don't, do not
used here for 毋, marking a prohibition
- 自 zì
oneself, yourself (reflexive)
- 辱 rǔ
to disgrace, humiliate, shame
- 焉 yān
sentence-final particle
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